Standard and Poors Rating Services has raised its
issuer credit rating on the Arkansas Development Finance Authority (ADFA) and
its series 2006W (Warehousing Program), which is supported by the authority’s
general obligation (GO) pledge, to ‘AA-’ from ‘A+’. This rating is based on the
following strengths:

An asset base that continues to be very high quality and low risk,
which therefore reduces risk to fund balances;

An experienced management team; and

A stable state economy and ADFA’s ongoing ability to meet its
legislative mandate.

ADFA President Mac Dodson said, "This is an objective
indication of the market’s comfort with ADFA’s Bond Programs."

Standard & Poors credit ratings have achieved wide
investor acceptance as easily usable tools for differentiating credit quality.
Under present commercial bank regulations issued by the Comptroller of the
Currency, bonds rated in the top four categories (‘AAA’, ‘AA’, ‘A’, ‘BBB’,
commonly known as investment-grade ratings) generally are regarded as eligible
for bank investment.

ADFA is the primary bond-issuing authority in
Arkansas. In addition to issuing affordable housing debt, the authority issues
debt for economic development programs and acts as a conduit issuer for various
other non-housing related activities. This analysis excludes non-housing
activities of the authority except to the extent that such programs affect
ADFA’s general fund. Generally, the non-housing activities increase the
authority’s ability to earn revenue, without adding to its risk profile as a
housing agency.